Tag Archives: ebooks

Hi everyone! This is just a short post to let everyone know that I have decided to brush off an old romantic novella that I never published and put it for sale as a Kindle ebook for only $0.99 (FREE if you have Kindle Unlimited)! It is entitled “Improper Intentions” and is a fanciful historical story set in England with a little bit of a gothic feel at times. It may be a little cheesy and predictable, but then again, aren’t most romances? Even the good ones lol. Lately I have been in more of a mood to write fiction and might try to come up with another romantic novella or two in the near future, so keep an eye out!

If you do check out the story, please consider leaving a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads! It really does help me to know what you all think! I am willing to give a few free PDF copies of the story to interested reviewers as well, so feel free to contact me if you are interested!

I just wanted to write a short blog post to let all my readers know that I just released a new children’s short story ebook! This ebook, Petar: An inspiring story about an unexpected friendship, is a heartwarming story about seeing past outward differences into the true heart of a person. The main character, Petar, is actually based on a real-life child that I met when I used to work as a teacher’s aide in our public school system. The courage and sweet personality of this child I knew made me want to tell his story. I also wanted to show how kind and compassionate many of the other children in his classroom were when it came to dealing with their classmate’s special needs.

Petar: An inspiring story about an unexpected friendship is geared for ages 7-11 (can be read independently or aloud). You can purchase the short story from Amazon for only $.99 per Kindle download. I hope you will check out my new ebook! If you do read it and enjoy it, please consider letting me know by leaving a review on Amazon!

One of the many pictures featured in my art journal. Find out how this painting and many other pictures were inspired!

Hello everyone! I just wanted to take a few minutes today to tell you all about my newest Kindle ebook release! This ebook is entitled “Through the Eyes of a Child: An Aspie’s Art Journal” and is available from Amazon for only $.99!

In case you are wondering, “why an art journal”? It is because:

A) I love art! I love to create art, I love to share my art and I love to get feedback on my art. I also love to inspire others to create their own art and celebrate the amazing power of human creativity.

B) I wanted to share my own creative process and the way my “Aspie” brain works. Many times having Asperger’s is thought of as a negative thing, like there is something really wrong with us. However, I think having Asperger’s definitely has some upsides, including our different way of looking at things and the way we manage to keep that innocent, naïve spirit that most people lose once they reach adulthood. Sometimes others see this innocence as childishness, but I prefer to think of it as child-likeness. With the heart of a child, we retain the natural creativity, joy, independence, optimism and kindness that is missing in so much of the world today. The world needs us Aspies!

So, if you get the chance to check out my little ebook, I hope you will. Hopefully, it will entertain you with some colorful artwork, but more importantly, I hope it will inspire you to let your own inner child come out and play.

It seems like there is a lot of condescension in the literary world about “self-published” authors. This annoys me. First off, because I have many friends who self-published excellent books, and secondly, because I have self-published two ebooks (even though my print books aren’t self-published).

So where does this bias come from? Is it because throughout history self-published books have been crappy? I highly doubt that. In fact, many of the best books ever written were self-published. Don’t believe me? Well, here is a short list of some self-pubbed classics:

*Beatrix Potter’s “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” was turned down by six publishers, but this didn’t get the young authoress down. She decided to self-publish the book. One of the publishers who had turned down the project saw the completed book, changed his mind and offered to publish the next edition of the book.

*Mark Twain, fed up with his previous publisher, decided to self-publish “Huck Finn”. Ironically it became one of his bestselling books, perhaps because he implemented a door-to-door marketing campaign.

*Edgar Allan Poe (my favorite writer of all time by the way), self-published his first book “Tamerlane and Other Poems”, thus effectively launching his career (even if he never did get the money or respect he deserved while alive).

*Charles Dickens self-published “A Christmas Carol” after having a fight with his publisher over the earnings related to a previous book.

*Some great authors like Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters even struggled to get publishers to publish their books “all expenses paid”! In fact, Jane Austen’s family offered a publisher the opportunity to publish Jane’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, on ”behalf of the author who will incur all expenses”. Not only did Jane’s family pay for publishing costs, but they also had to pay a commission to the publisher for each book sold! Sounds like a rotten deal to me, but she did ok in the end.

*Ever read Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”? Neither have I, but it was self-published too.

*Even the manual that many writers use as their Bible was first self-published. Where would we be without William Strunk’s “The Elements of Style?”

*Some other authors who are said to have self-published at some point in their careers: Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, e.e. Cummings, Carl Sandburg, Ezra Pound, Stephen Crane, Rudyard Kipling, Alexandre Dumas, Henry David Thoreau (plus many, many more, but I really don’t want to type all their names, so Google it if you are interested).

In the end, I’m not going to say that all self-published books are good, any more than I would say all traditionally published books are good, but I do think all books deserve to be judged for their literary merit, rather than their publisher.

With the advent and increasing popularity of ebooks, many doomsday prophets are now proclaiming that printed books will quickly meet their demise. I have heard experts claim that within the next 50 years, traditional books are destined to go the way of vinyl records. They might be used for decoration or sought out by collectors, but other than that, books as we have always known them will be obsolete.

Is this true? I hate to think so. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not one of those purists who believe that ereaders are evil or anything, in fact I own a Kindle myself, but I still prefer the feel of a real book in my hands. Maybe I am old-fashioned or sentimental, but nothing will ever feel the same to me as flipping the pages of a new book.

I don’t really want to live in a world where the only place I can buy books is Amazon either. I like the convenience and wide diversity of internet bookstores, but I would much rather browse a brick and mortar store. I could literally spend hours in a cozy bookstore reading area. I prefer to sit down and try a book out before I buy it. Plus, in the bookstore I get to snoop around to see what other people are reading and get in some people watching, which happen to be two of my favorite pastimes.

As an author, I can also attest to the fact that there is nothing like holding your own book in your hands. I have had both ebooks and traditional books published, and the ebooks don’t elicit near the excitement from myself or others as the handheld ones do. This fact gives me hope for the future of traditional literature. What about you? Do you think that printed books are on their last leg? If so, will you consider it a great loss?

Hello everyone! I know it has been quite awhile since I posted, but with the holidays, family illnesses and other responsibilities that have been thrown my way, I have just been overwhelmed, so I took some time off. We did have some great times over the holiday, for instance, the cosmic bowling that we did on New Year’s Eve. The picture included here is of me and a family member celebrating there!

In addition to the happiness the season brought to my family, it also bumped up the sales figures for my newest picture book, “Ode to Icky”. Most of these were signed copies that I sold personally, but still, getting my book into the hands of readers always puts a smile on my face!

Over the holidays, the Kindle version of “Ode to Icky” became available for FREE to anyone who happens to be an Amazon Prime Member. Unless I’m mistaken, the Amazon Prime program is rather new, but it seems to have some great perks if you shop Amazon often for books or other products. You receive free shipping on most of your Amazon orders, unlimited instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows and access to tons of free books for the Kindle through the Kindle Lending Library program.

To be completely honest, I haven’t signed up as a Prime Member yet, but I am seriously considering it. I love my Kindle and whenever I can’t find something I want in a nearby store, I almost always purchase it from Amazon. So if you happen to be an Amazon Prime Member, I have two requests to make of you:

First, please consider downloading “Ode to Icky” for free! Even though it is free to you, I do receive a small royalty every time it is downloaded. Secondly, I would love to hear your opinion of the Prime program and how you have liked it so far. Has it been worth the money?

Like this:

Cue the Marvin Gaye song. Just thought I would write a list of stuff that has been going on in my life lately. Feel free to comment or even share what is going on in your life!

*The biggest news, at least recently, is that I am now involved in a lawsuit 😦 I can’t really say much more than that at this point, but let me say that it is the first time I have ever been sued for ANYTHING and it has not been a pleasant experience. For a worrywart like me is feels like some class action lawsuit Xarelto we all heard of. I do want to specify that this has absolutely nothing to do with my writing career…so don’t worry about that. It’s just one of the personal inconveniences that is life.

*On a more positive note, my picture book, “Ode to Icky” is going to the printers within the next couple weeks! It should be available before the holiday season, so keep it in mind for a great gift! I also have another children’s ebook entitled “Weezie, the Elephant with Allergies” that is almost ready for publication. I plan to publish it in October, so keep a look out! It will be available on Smashwords, Amazon and Barnes and Noble (just like my last ebook “In Memory of Dad”).

*We just celebrated our one month anniversary with our new foster son who is 9 years old. He has been a great kid so far, even if he is an EXTREMELY picky eater. Hopefully he will grow out of that. He recently joined the Boy Scouts which has been as much fun for us as it has for him. At the last den meeting we even played dodgeball, parents vs the kids. The parents won, although my foster son did manage to get my husband out of the game. I survived till the bitter end though, even if I did it by hiding behind the men 🙂

Well, I think that’s everything that is important for now. Please drop me a line and tell me how your life is going. Would love any advice on how to deal with lawsuit headaches and picky eaters as well!!!